Economic thinking begins with the recognition of scarcity. The limitation of the means for securing the ends that are the purpose of individual or collective action requires choosing among possible means. The ends themselves are limited by the finitude of human aspirations and of life itself. Choosing rationally among ends, as well as among suitable means, requires principles of choice. Economics is the science of those principles.

This exhibition will trace the formulation of modern economic thought through representative texts drawn from the Rare Book & Manuscript Library's Hollander Economic Library collection.

Assembled by Jacob Harry Hollander (1871-1940), Professor of Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University, the Hollander Library is one of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library's great treasures. Containing nearly 4100 books, manuscripts, letters, realia, and portraits, it encompasses the broad sweep of almost 450 years of economic thought.